BEIJING - The Chinese mainland has decided to authorize another two cities to issue travel permits to Taiwan residents, a mainland spokesman said Wednesday.

The cities of Yancheng in Jiangsu province and Wenzhou in Zhejiang province will be able to issue travel permits to Taiwan residents starting from February 5, Yang Yi, spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a press conference.

The addition of the two cities raises the total number of cities with such authorization to 32, according to Yang.